Cherish the Fetus

While studying God's glory (kabod: weight) I came across Exodus 33.  Don't you love it when God will reveal something fresh and deep with a passage that you just think you understand?

It is the all-famous passage where Moses dares ask God to show him His glory.  Spurgeon says it is the 'greatest request that man could ever make to God':  show me your glory! I love how God doesn't reveal His glory at first, but prepares Moses for what His glory is going to look like.  It is as if God is saying "Number one, it will be seen in my goodness (towb:  goodness, beauty, bounty.)"  "Number two, it will be seen in my name. (the LORD:  Yahweh)"  And Number three, it will be in the fact that I am merciful and gracious to whom I want."  (We see that God's glory is evident not just in his mercy and grace but in His sovereignty over whom and how He wants to exercise that.)

So, God prepares Moses for this weighty thing that is about to occur.  But, who of us can ever really be prepared for His Glory?  God knows that is will knock us dead, so he tells Moses that He is going to allow him to stand on a rock...He will hide Him in the cleft of a rock while His glory passes by.  {Another occurrence of JESUS...can I get an amen?} 

Rock of Ages

Cleft for Me

Let Me Hide Myself in Thee

Do you see?  Our weight must be on the rock that is Jesus for us to behold the weight of God's glory!  We stand on Christ alone. Is your house built on the rock?  He is the chief cornerstone.  1 Corinthians 10:4 says "and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ."  Jesus is our rock. He is our only hope of beholding God's glory and living to tell about it!

Remember how I said the Hebrew word for Glory was Kabod?  Well, I googled it and wouldn't you know it, Satan decided to take the word that pointed to God's character and weight and turn it into something entirely different.  He is the counterfeit and He has tried to steal the very word for glory and turn it into something that might glorify his own evil ways.  I don't recommend looking it up, but Kabod is an online game featuring sexual and adult content.  Satan tries to twist everything, doesn't he?!!

So, back to Exodus 33.  God tells Moses what His glory is going to look like.  One of those things is regarding his mercy and grace.  "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy."  (Ex. 33:19b)  What I discovered is that the Hebrew word for mercy there is "racham"  which means compassion or the womb or to cherish the fetus in the womb.

If you have carried a baby for any amount of time, then I know this makes your heart pound.  It stirs something deep inside of me to know that God's mercy towards me is similar to how I have felt towards my unborn babies. 

Each time was no different.  From the moment I saw the line turn on the tests, something changed inside.  I became fierce.  I became consumed with a whole new level of love.  I was willing to freely give up coke, coffee, and fried food while also being willing to swallow horse pills doctors call vitamins.  My dreams and ambitions became different.  I would do whatever was in my power to protect and care for the child inside.  If I had anything to do with it, the child would live and be guarded from anything evil.

I cherished each fetus, looking forward to not only what they were, but what they would become.

I think of a fetus inside of a mother and I think of how utterly vulnerable it is.  It is helpless, totally dependent on the mother for sustenance and life.

God is telling us that His great mercy towards us is that of a mother towards her unborn baby.  He sheds His mercy on us because He dreams of what we can be with His grace.